In my collection of cookbooks is The Complete International Jewish Cookbook by Evelyn Rose, who for over 30 years, was food editor of the London Jewish Chronicle. When I received the press release that 100 Best Jewish Recipes by Rose with her daughter, Judi Rose, was being published I was sure it would be as lovely as the earlier one and was saddened to learn Evelyn died in 2003.
Judi had quite a task when she began working on this book as she narrowed down the thousands of recipes from her mother’s career into the ones their family loved best.
She put this book together, based on 100 of her mother’s best loved recipes, some of her personal favourites as well as those of her fans. Judi is a food writer, consultant and culinary expert. They cooked together for over 30 years and wrote two cookbooks.
The recipes her daughter has chosen epitomize her principles of “incorporating thinking on health and nutrition, and using new technology to save time and effort.”
“My mother passionately believed that each dish must have ta’am, that extra something that makes it taste special and be worth the effort for busy people to put on their table.”
READ: COOKBOOK OFFERS FAMILY RECIPES FOR OTHERS TO TRY
There are 128 recipes enhanced by 38 colour photographs.
Recipes included are: Middle Eastern and Sephardi as well as from Vienna, Lithuania, Syria, Russia, France, Hungary, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Persia, Morocco, China, Italy, Greece, Holland, Britain, Israel, Sicily, Egypt, Indonesia, Armenia, and Denmark.
As the publisher says, these are traditional and contemporary recipes, for family meals and special occasions, for novices and experienced cooks alike.
Having this book in your kitchen or giving it to a new bride or an accomplished cook will achieve the same purpose – a compendium of traditional and contemporary cooking ideas.
Here are a few of the traditional, classic recipes.
Chicken liver pate
o 3 eggs
o 1 finely chopped onion
o 1 crushed garlic clove
o 4 tbsp. soft margarine or
rendered chicken fat
o 5-10 grinds sea salt
o 12 oz. ready-koshered chicken livers
o 15 grinds of black pepper
o 1 good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
o warm French bread, crackers or sliced challah
Hard boil eggs for 10 minutes, drain, return to pan, cover with cold water and leave to cool.
Fry onion and garlic gently in the margarine or fat until very soft and a rich brown. As the onion cooks, sprinkle it with sea salt.
Peel eggs and cut in half. Put one aside.
Put onion and garlic with cooking juices into food processor, process until smooth. Add 2 eggs, livers, pepper and nutmeg. Process until smooth. Taste and add more seasoning if necessary.
Turn mixture into a terrine or oval gratin dish or divide between individual ramekins. Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight. Refrigerate extra egg.
One hour before serving, remove pate from refrigerator to return to room temperature. Pass remaining egg through food mill or sieve to décorate top of pate.
Traditional chicken soup
o 1 whole or half chicken with wings and giblets
o 7 ½ cups water
o 2 tsp. salt
o 1 pinch white pepper
o 2 halved, peeled carrots
o leaves and top 2 in. of 2 celery ribs
o 1 sprig parsley
o 1 very ripe tomato
Put chicken and pieces in a large pot with water, salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil.
Remove foam with a large metal spoon.
Peel and half onion and carrots and add to pot with celery, parsley and tomato. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover and continue to simmer 3 hours until chicken feels very tender when a leg is prodded.
Strain soup, reserving giblets and carrots in separate container. Cover and refrigerate soup.
Next day, remove congealed fat and return soup to the pot.
Cube giblets and carrots. Add to soup. Serve with matzah balls or noodles.
Kichels
o 1 cup cake flour
o 1-1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
o 3 tsp. baking powder
o 2 large eggs
o 2/3 cup superfine sugar
o ½ cup sunflower or other
flavourless oil
o zest of 1 orange
o 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix flours and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until thick then gradually whisk in the sugar, followed by the oil, orange zest and vanilla.
Stir in enough of the flour to make a rollable, nonsticky dough. Knead until smooth then roll out on a floured board until ½ inch thick.
Sprinkle the dough with sugar the roll lightly to press it in. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters and arrange on prepared trays, leaving room for cookies to spread. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until pale gold in color. Leave on wire racks to cool.